Before the Rise
by garbygal
Summary: Focuses on Division before Nikita's arrival, specifically on Birkhoff's arrival (and later Michael's) and what went on at Division before Nikita got there.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Walking into his office, Percy threw the folder containing the results of the surveillance op on his desk in frustration. Everything had been working perfectly until now. Everyone had been doing everything they were supposed to but a crack had begun to form.

Percy logged into his computer, leaning back in the expensive leather chair. He pulled up the file he was looking for and sat up in his chair to get a better look at the file. There had to be some kind of sign someone had missed that caused this- no allowed this- to happen. Someone had to be to blame for the disaster they were now facing.

Staring at the personnel file, Percy was sick. This man had been his technical genius since the first day and he had never questioned anything that Percy asked him to do. That was, until he fell in love. Now, even though he didn't know that Percy or anyone in Division was aware of his situation, he was making plans to escape to somewhere he could live with his lover. Just more justification for the rule not to allow relationships in Division.

There was no way Percy was going to let this happen. There was no way he would let their secrets walk out the door and there was no way that he could betray Percy like this and get away with it. As loyal as the man had been to Division in his mean years of service, it was not anything near enough to make up for the betrayal he was about to commit. The loyalty went out the door the moment he began to make plans to get away from Division and leave them in a lurch.

Simon Sawyer had worked for the FBI, for years. He had been a loyal agent but the FBI found out that he had been using FBI resources to hack and steal money. He would have gone to prison but instead they assigned him to the new Division program. He worked tech for them on all of their ops and provided technical support for the whole organization. Just like with the FBI originally he was loyal to Division, but now Percy was going to have to cancel him. This would lead to another issue- otherwise Simon would have been dead already. Percy had never considered the possibility that Simon would betray him and never put any plans into place that would cover this happening. They had no other technicians, no one that was able to do the hacks and technical support that Sawyer was doing for them. That meant for now he lived, until they could find someone that could replace him. They were in a bind- it had been two weeks since Simon had been discovered and he could leave at any time- but there was no one on his list that had nearly enough skills to take over for Simon. Anyone with those skills would be too good to get caught unless they made some kind of mistake.

Percy rubbed his temples. He could not believe that in all the planning of Division and all the things they did to make sure Division ran smoothly, there had been no planning for backing up the tech position. It was a horrible oversight on someone's part and once this whole thing was solved, he was going to find out who it was and there would be more cancelations in this whole mess.

For now, he couldn't worry about how they got there he had to focus on solving the problem. Immediately he had Carla and Amanda go over the records but they could not find anyone who would fit their needs. The last two weeks had shown it was more difficult to find someone with the skills that they needed because they didn't often make the mistakes that they would need to in order for Division to get them and keep them in Division. In the two weeks since they had first found out about Simon and had been tracking him, and Division had no leads. Percy was beginning to worry that Simon would make his break and they would have to cancel him before they get something in place to replace him, causing havoc for Division and all of their missions.

Rubbing his temples again, the sound of approaching heel clicks and an accompanying knock got his attention and Percy saw Amanda entering his office. "Yes?" he asked her, acknowledging her entrance.

Amanda brushed her hair behind her ear and walked slowly towards Percy's desk, her heels clicking across his floor. As she stopped, she placed a folder on Percy's desk in front of him. "I think you will want to see this."

Percy glared at Amanda, picking up the folder. "What's this?" he asked, opening to a picture of a young man, scruffy beard and a short blond ponytail. He was a rough looking guy.

"That is your new tech. He was just arrested for hacking the Chinese government." Amanda told him.

Percy looked over the folder quickly scanning the information Amanda had on their newest prospect. He stopped as his eyes caught a familiar name. "Shadow Walker?" he said to Amanda.

She nodded with a smirk of satisfaction, knowing that she had found exactly what Percy was looking for and also that she had showed up her rival Carla. "The FBI cannot prove that he is Shadow Walker, but I had some of the under-techs do some digging of their own and they could see some patterns that definitely point to this young man being him."

Percy smiled in satisfied. If they could get their hands on the Shadow Walker, they would be set. His eyes scanned the file. "Seymour Birkhoff." He read the name aloud from the file. "Do we have something in place to recover him?"

The smirk had not left Amanda's face. It was clear that she was quite proud of herself. "As soon as the alert came up I put in the request. I made sure that Simon is not aware of the situation."

"Fantastic." Percy was glad to hear things had turned for the better for them. "We will put Simon on lockdown to train the new trainee for two weeks. He cannot leave while he gets the new trainee up to speed, then we cancel him."

"I'll put Roan on alert." Amanda confirmed.

Amanda turned to leave Percy's office. "And Amanda?" Percy commented, causing her to turn back towards him, "Good job."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The police office led Seymour Birkhoff into a tiny interrogation room, shoving him into the metal chair. Across the table the office sat across from the scared young man, Birkhoff, all brave and cocky through the Internet, was suddenly quite. He hung his head down, strands of blond hair pulled out from his ponytail hung over his face. Since they had busted him at his apartment, he had made very little eye contact with anyone and had not said a word. The officer leaned across the table on his folded arms and asked, "I am only going to ask you this once. Are you Shadow Walker?"

As uncomfortable as he was at the situation, Birkhoff was still a smart man. "I don't talk without a lawyer." He quietly replied.

"What?" the office laughed. "A lawyer?" he got up and headed towards the door. "I hope you have a good one."

The officer left the room and Birkhoff sat back in his chair. He was smooth and cocky online, but in real life, with real people, it was completely different. His mind began to scramble over all the possibilities. He knew he had to get himself out of this somehow. Looking down at his feet, he knew with his small stature and less than stellar physical conditioning, he would not last more than five minutes in prison. There had to be something he could do, but it wasn't like the police or prison guards were going to leave him around a computer any time soon.

The opening door brought the young man back to reality. This time, it was not a police officer, but a very well dressed, middle-aged man who came in. He was in a perfectly-fitted, expensive looking suit, his hair combed neatly back. He was cool and collected every step he took calculated. "What?" Seymour asked. "Are you my lawyer?"

The man smiled. "No, no. I am just here to offer you a second chance."

Seymour was confused. There was no going back. "What are you a time traveler?" Birkhoff was less than impressed.

Laughing he sat down across from Seymour. "Not exactly," he replied, "I'm here to offer you a second chance to join us, to serve your country instead of going to prison."

Birkhoff did not know what to do. Not going to prison sounded good, but the offer this man was making seemed too good to be true. "What if I'd rather not in jail than work for the government?" Birkhoff wanted to see if the guy could keep up with what he was offering.

"You don't have a choice." The man laughed.

Confused, Birkhoff did not immediately understand the comment until a wave of sleepiness overcame him suddenly. His mind flashed back to the glass of water he had been given when he first arrived at the station. 'Well, at least I won't be going to prison.' He thought as he fell asleep.

When he came to, Birkhoff was still in a tiny white room, but now he was laying on some kind of cot. As his consciousness returned, he looked to his left, where a small desk was set up next to the bed. That was the only decoration in the room. Sitting up in the bed, Birkhoff was surprised his baggy, torn-up jeans and t-shirt had been replaced with sweatpants and a white t-shirt. "Who the hell changed my clothes?" he shouted.

Almost on cue, the door opened and a man, older than the first but dressed in an equally nice suit, came into the room. "Good to see you're awake, recruit." He calmly said.

"Recruit?" Birkhoff rubbed his hand, still groggy from whatever they had drugged him with.

The man laughed. "I'm Simon. I am an agent here."

"An agent" Birkhoff was confused, the encounter at the police station a little groggy in his mind."

"You've been brought here to work as an agent for an organization called Division. We are a black-budget agency of the US government."

"What?" Birkhoff rubbed his wrists, sore from the handcuffs. "You're kidding right?"

Simon shook his head without even a hint of a smile. He was all business. "Not at all. You've been picked for a special task. Because you are a technical genius, we want you to not just be an agent, but to be groomed as a tech analysis in Operations."  
"Operations?" Birkhoff arched his eyebrows in confusion. "And how are you people going to make me stay?"

The agent tossed a folder over to the young man. Opening it, Birkhoff was greeted by a photo of a grave. He wasn't sure why, until his eyes came across the gravestone and he read his name on the gravestone. "What?" he whispered in shock.

"We faked your death. You were killed in a lunch room brawl. You were really too small and weak to survive. Everyone outside Division thinks you're dead. Now you serve us, or we really kill you."

Birkhoff swallowed hard. He was a criminal, but not a violent one, so he had never had his life threatened before and he was more scared than he ever thought he could be. Right then he knew he would have to obey. "So what do I have to do?"

Simon laughed. "It's simple. We essentially teach you to be a spy. For you, it means a focus on providing technical support for missions."

"What kind of missions?" Birkhoff wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to hear the answer.

"You'll see plenty of it. Simon avoided the question which made Birkhoff even more uneasy. "You get today to settle in, but Amanda will want to see you this afternoon. Tomorrow you will start training with the other recruits."

"Amanda?" Birkhoff was not looking forward to another one of these secretive people.

"Amanda is our lifestyle therapist. She helps guide the transformation."

"Great." Birkhoff replied, not looking forward to therapy.


	3. Chapter 3

It wasn't very far from his room to get to the room marked as Amanda's office. Birkhoff let out a deep breath, not sure exactly what to expect, but he imagined it wouldn't be good. He was still shaken by everything that had happened that day. In the span of one day he went from top hacker, to a stupid mistake getting him caught by the FBI, and then getting rescued from a likely death sentence to wherever the hell he was now.

He tentatively lifted his arm to knock on the door. "Come in!" a friendly voice greeted him.

Opening the door, Birkhoff was surprised by the sheer difference between the rest of Division and this room. The office was decorated like a home- beautiful artwork on the walls and expensive furniture around the room. At a fancy vanity against the wall, a woman sat as she turned to greet him. She was professionally dressed, manicured to a tee. Her hair was perfect, her make-up perfect, she was completely put together. You must be Seymour." She got up to greet him, an exaggerated smile on her face.

"I prefer Birkhoff." He replied, without even thinking.

"Okay." She smiled again, "Birkhoff it is. Have a seat." She gestured to an oversized couch in the middle of the room. I'm Amanda. I am here to guide you on your journey with us."

"My journey?" Birkhoff felt sarcastic today.

"I know it sounds strange, but the training you will receive here will be part of a journey towards improvement for yourself too." Amanda sat down in a chair across from Birkhoff.

Birkhoff had to stop himself from snorting aloud at the absurdness of that statement. "Okay." He managed to reply.

"So tell me Birkhoff, if you are the notorious Shadow Walker, how did you get caught this time?  
There was a small smirk of cockiness that crossed Birkhoff's face at the mention of his hacker alias that gave him so much pleasure. It quickly faded at the memory of getting caught. "I made a mistake." He replied. "A stupid mistake.

"That happens you know." Amanda smiled, "No one is perfect."

Birkhoff looked away. It was a little unnerving that he had been with this woman for all of three minutes and she had already hit the nail on the head. More than he was upset at the mistake he had made, he was more upset that he had made a mistake in the first place. To be good at the hacking he had been doing, he had to be a perfectionist. "I was up until then."

Smiling to him, Amanda replied, "It is okay to make mistakes. Look at the bright side, your mistake brought you here."

Rolling his eyes, Birkhoff had to bite his tongue not to comment. He was not quite sold yet on the fact that being in Division was a good thing. "You're not sure of that yet." Amanda immediately noticed. "That's okay. As you learn more about us, the longer you are here, you'll start to see the good we are doing."

This time Birkhoff stopped himself from rolling his eyes. He still didn't believe it, but he didn't exactly want to argue it either. They saved him, so he did owe them in that way. "So what am I doing here?" he asked her.

Amanda smiled at his eagerness to learn. Re-crossing her legs and taking a sip of tea, she replied, "There are lots of things you'll be doing here. As I'm sure Simon started to tell you, we do missions to protect the American people."

Birkhoff had a hard time believing that Amanda wasn't giving him a very watered down version of the situation. He could tell right away that his time with Amanda was not going to be pleasant and that he didn't like her very much. "So now what?" Birkhoff asked.

"Well, I just want to start getting to know you a little bit." She told him. "Give you some of the rules. There aren't a lot of them here, but one of the main ones is that we do not want relationships."

A blush crept over Birkhoff's cheeks that he quickly tried to hide. "I don't think that will be a problem." He replied.

"Nonsense." Amanda smiled in reply. "Just keep in mind we know people have, the need to connect, and that is fine, but we just don't want any relationships to develop- they tend to interfere with missions and our goals and we don't want to have to cancel anyone."

There hadn't quite been an explanation of cancelation, but the way she said it caused a shiver down Birkhoff's spine. Even without an explanation, it was clear from the way she had said it gave a clear impression that cancelation probably equaled death. He didn't sense any problems coming; after all being a tech God didn't exactly send girls running his way, and the fact that Birkhoff's interpersonal skills were less than perfect made this a nonissue when it came to him. "Okay." Birkhoff replied.

"Don't worry. We'll work on your skills. Even if it is not an issue now, it may be in the future." Amanda tried to gain the trust of the young man.

Birkhoff found himself conflicted. What she was offering made him want to trust her, but just the gut feeling was there that he shouldn't, and he couldn't fight that. There was something about her that was manipulative, fake, and Birkhoff couldn't quite shake the feeling- or ignore it. He figured he'd keep working with her, not give her a difficult time just to make things easier, but he wasn't going to fully trust her, he would keep a guard up at all times. "Okay." He replied.

"So tell me, how come you don't have a lot of friends? You're a smart young man. You're not bad looking." Amanda was curious to hear what the young man had to say.

"I've just never fit in." he replied. "I've had different interests than the other people my age. I just have never know how to relate to other people."

Immediately he cursed himself for opening up too much. There wasn't much of a reason to tell her anything yet. He supposed it was for the best, if he gave her information she would be happy and if she was happy she wouldn't question him. "How do you feel about yourself?" Amanda asked him next.

With a scoff, Birkhoff replied, "I'm brilliant." He replied. "I'm one of the best there is."

Amanda thought about that for a minute. The young man didn't seem to have a self-esteem problem; he just honestly didn't seem to know how to relate to others. She would have to work with him. "Okay. Well you will have plenty of practice working with the other agents to try to get better at making friends. We'll try to find out what we can do to help you out."

It seemed like an okay proposition, but Birkhoff wasn't sure he would ever be able to relate well enough to others. For some reason it had haunted him for a lot of his life, and really it had caused him to develop into a very private, at times very selfish person. Not that he was going to come out and admit that to Amanda right away. He had to make do some work. "So when do I meet these other agents?" Birkhoff asked.

Amanda glanced at her watch. "Actually, you could head down to meet them in the computer lab. It's about time for their computer classes to start for today. You've already met Simon, so I think it will be good for you to start there. Why don't you go ahead and head to the computer lab. I'll send for you when we are going to talk again."

"Okay." Birkhoff got up and started to head out of the office.

"And Birkhoff," Amanda called after him, causing him to turn back as he got to the door, "Welcome to Division."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

As Birkhoff arrive at the computer lab, he stood outside the door, watching the other recruits. Simon, the man from before was at the front of the class. All of the recruits were at stations with computers, working on some kind of assignment. Most of the recruits were about the same age as him, late teens, and it looked like they came from all kinds of backgrounds. Some looked like dangerous killers and some of them looked like techies by him. "Seymour!" Simon's call startled Birkhoff from his observations.

Slowly Birkhoff walked in to the computer lab. Simon pointed to an empty station at the back of the room and Birkhoff headed back there. As he sat down at the station, he glanced at the young girl at the station beside him. She definitely did not look like a killer. She was only maybe 17, her bright red hair curled to about the middle of her back. She looked shy- she made no attempt to make eye contact with him.

Glancing around he saw the other recruits were working on a simple hacking challenge. He found himself glancing over at the girls' screen and noticed she was not having a lot of success. She was doing everything the wrong way or the long way. Rolling his chair over to her station, he asked, "Hold on a second. Would you like some help?"

The young girl nervously brushed her hair behind her left ear. "I don't get this computer stuff."

Watched what she was doing Birkhoff replied, "I think you are just over-thinking it a little. Can I have the mouse?"

The girl took her hand off the mouse so Birkhoff could help her. He worked quickly, making sure to point out each step to her. "Oh!" she finally replied. "I think I get it. Thanks."

Birkhoff just nodded, rolling his chair back over to his station. When she looked up at her again, she gave him a friendly smile. "I'm Lana." She told him.

"Seymour Birkhoff. I go by Birkhoff." He gave her a friendly smile in return.

"Nice to meet you Birkhoff." She replied, "And thanks for the help."

"No problem. Computers are my specialty." He replied.

The conversation quickly ended when Simon started another exercise with the recruits. Most of it was pretty easy for Birkhoff so he found his mind slipping back to Lana, wondering what she could have possibly done to bring here. Planning to ask her after the class, Birkhoff didn't get the chance when Simon stopped him on his way out of the class. "Hey Birkhoff," Simon held out an arm to stop him before he left the room. "We talked before about your specialty."  
Birkhoff nodded, barely remembering through the haze of whatever medications he had been given to be brought into Division. Most of his conversation with Simon was fuzzy. "Yeah." He replied.

"Good. Now I'm going to take you to my office and start to introduce you to the things you'll do as a technical analyst."

Without a word, Birkhoff followed Simon to his office. He knew there was little reason to question Simon- it would never result in the truth, just Simon spouting the company line. As they walked into Simon's office, Birkhoff was impressed. Apparently being head tech had its perks. Simon's office was huge- all the technical devices you could imagine littered the room, set up for every kind of technical procedure possible. In the far corner was a small bed and some furniture- probably meaning the tech sometimes had to stay on campus during missions. He also had a pretty nice living room set up Birkhoff got the feeling Simon spent a lot of time on campus. "Sit." Simon pointed Birkhoff to his couch.

Birkhoff sat down and Simon put a computer tablet in front of him. "This tablet has information on every one of these people, so it's best you get to know them." Simon turned on the tablet. "Do not let the other recruits see this. Part of being in Division is erasing the past of these recruits, so these files have details the recruits do not and should not know."

Finding it weird, Birkhoff shook his head but didn't say anything. Maybe after a while working with Division things would start to make more sense. Flipping through the tablet, Simon began to explain things to Birkhoff. He explained the system they used to pinpoint possible recruits, how they arranged getting the recruits in, then after a year of training how they would become an agent. There was explanations of recruit trackers and agent trackers and many other things Seymour couldn't even remember there was so much.

When Birkhoff got back to his room, he realized he had spent two hours with Simon learning about his new job. It was hard to tell what time it was with the lack of clocks in Division and with the lights always on. His body told him it was late, so changing into his boxers and climbing into bed, he read the tablet for a while before going to sleep.

He clicked on Lana's folder to see what her story was. As he file opened, Birkhoff appreciated the picture. She'd been made up with made up and looked very pretty, not that she hadn't been pretty in person. Seeing his birthday he realized she was 18, a little older than he had thought. She was from Chicago and had gotten in Division after being arrested for murder. The most interesting thing he found out was that her suicide was based on a widely held belief that she was innocent. As he glanced at a few more profiles before going to sleep, then shutting off the tablet and putting on the table next to his bed. Lying back in the bed, he wondered if Lana was innocent. Her shyness and quietness would certainly suggest that but he also wondered if she could make it in an assassin's training camp if she was actually innocent.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

It was 6:30 AM when his alarm rang the next morning. It took him a minute to remember where he was. He groaned when he remembered all the events that had led to him being here. Getting out of bed and running a hand through his sleep-mangled, long hair, Birkhoff figured that Simon or someone had set the alarm when they brought him there. He got out of bed and headed to the bathroom to get ready.

After a shower and brushing his teeth, Birkhoff wandered to the cafeteria. Some of them he had not seen before. Going to the far side of the cafeteria, Birkhoff got in line for breakfast. Curious, he tried to get a gauge on what kind of food they were serving and he didn't hear Lana come up behind him. "Hi again." Lana cheerfully greeted him.

Turning quickly, Birkhoff was pleasantly surprised to find Lana behind him. "Hi Lana." He replied.

"So how has Division been treating you so far" Lana asked as the cook handed Birkhoff his tray.

"It's been okay." Birkhoff replied, "A lot to get used to."

After Lana got her food, they headed to a tale. Birkhoff notice right away how Lana did not seem to fit in with the other recruits. She did not attempt to sit with anyone else and did not even attempt a smile at any of the other recruits. He figured maybe it was because of her sordid past- since she may not really be a killer. "It is a lot to get used to." Lana replied, taking a bite of cantaloupe.

"So how did you get here?" Birkhoff wanted to try to find out more about Lana's situation; his curiosity was getting the bed of him.

"Same as everyone else." Lana simply replied, taking another bite of food. "You had better start eating, they don't give us a lot of time and you'll need the energy."

Even though the food was a little healthier than what Birkhoff usually enjoyed, he figured that Lana knew what she was talking about. He took her advised and started to eat. While they ate in silence, Birkhoff still observed Lana. Her head was down; he could tell she was shy and lonely. That made him curious why she was opening up to him. "So how long have you been here" Birkhoff finally asked.

"Only a month." Lana replied. "I'm told I have a long way to go."

"Training's about a year, right?"

Lana nodded. "About. It depends on some other things too."

"Recruits!" One of the guards shouted, causing Birkhoff to jump in his seat. "Get to the gym. You have five minutes."

Almost immediately Lana stood up and Birkhoff followed her cue. "To get there on time, we'd better leave now."

They got rid of the trays and started heading down to the gym. As they walked quickly through the halls, Birkhoff decided to ask more questions. "So what kind of things do we do in gym?"

Lana laughed. "Really? You can't figure it out? You are in a spy organization- be a better spy."

Rolling his eyes, Birkhoff replied, "I was only looking for confirmation."

"Hand-to-hand." Lana replied.

"Great." Birkhoff groaned.

"Not exactly your strong suite?" Lana teased back, stopping in front of a pair of doors. "Here's the locker rooms. Come back out here after you change- your workout clothes are in your locker, it will have your name on it."

"Thanks." Birkhoff made sure to thank her as they parted and he headed into the men's locker room. He quickly found the locker marked with his name and pulled the workout clothes out. With everything he knew about Division so far, he wasn't surprised when his workout sweats fit perfectly like they had been tailored for him. They had probably measured him while he was passed out- and that caused a shiver to go down his spine.

As he changed Birkhoff saw the other recruits nervously eyeing him. They were all a lot bigger than him- in muscle and in general size. He wasn't sure if they were eyeing him because he was hanging out with Lana, their outcast, if it was because he was new, because he was small and out of shape, or because of a mix of the three. There was the special training that he was getting for technology that didn't make him any less of a target. Once he was changed, he headed out into the gym. Ana had not come back out, so Birkhoff just headed over to the mat. A couple of guys were already sitting there waiting for the teacher. "Hi new guy." One of the guys greeted him.

"Hi." Birkhoff tentatively replied back. He wasn't sure if the guys were planning to be nice to him or not.

"I'm Wesley." The first guy introduced himself. "This is Danny. We've been here about eight months."

"Nice to meet you." Birkhoff replied.

"So do have any hand-to-hand experience?" Danny asked him.

Birkhoff looked down at his body. At least he thought the answer was obvious. These guys were twice as big as he was with muscles on their muscles. It was obvious that Birkhoff didn't do much training unless it was in front of his X-box. This wasn't going to be good."

An hour later Birkhoff found himself back in Simon's room, an icepack on his black eye. Daniel had Birkhoff to dual against and Birkhoff was as inexperienced as he had suspected he would be. Before he had caught on how to protect himself successfully and predict his opponent's moves, Daniel had gotten one good poke in at him. "I see there is a reason that they want you as a tech." Simon teased him as he came into the room.

"Ha-ha." Birkhoff sarcastically replied.

"Today I want to show you some of the programs we use during missions." Simon replied.

It had only been a day, but Birkhoff was already annoyed. All of the programs that Simon had were way less powerful than the things that Birkhoff had built at his apartment to help him with his hacking. He wasn't sure what kind of organization this was that they would settle for the meritocracy this technician was providing. If this was how he felt after only about a day, he wasn't sure what else he may be in store for. "Will I get my own equipment or will I be sharing?" Birkhoff was already itching to work and hack on a computer again.

"For all the major programs and equipment, you'll work on the communal stuff. But-"Simon reached behind his desk, pulling out a laptop bag, and assumedly a laptop inside, handing it over to Birkhoff. "You will have a personal laptop."

Birkhoff was excited to get the computer set up. He pulled the laptop excitedly from its case and hit the power button. It was the nicest computer he had ever had. It was completely blank for Birkhoff to set up how he liked. "Awesome." He finally replied.

"Just make sure that you don't flaunt the computer around other students- keep it in your room." Simon told Birkhoff. "You are receiving special training and other students may not understand your special treatment since you are so new- and have failings in other areas."

Glaring at Simon over the top of the computer, Birkhoff wasn't too pleased with his subtle dig. Simon didn't think anything of his comments since he was Birkhoff's superior, so he could say whatever he wanted. He started teaching Birkhoff all the programs, Birkhoff only half paying attention as he set up his new toy. After a couple of hours, Simon finally announced, "That's all I have for you. Amanda would like to see you now."

Amanda was sitting at her vanity when Birkhoff arrived, his computer bag around his shoulder. The laptop was okay to go with him to Amanda's office since he would be the only student in there. When Amanda heard Birkhoff open her door, she replied without even looking up, "Come in Birkhoff, have a seat."

Once he had sat on the couch, Amanda turned around to join him. He placed his laptop at his feet as Amanda sat in her usual place across from her. "How are things going?"

"Okay." Birkhoff replied, "I'm not sure how much I fit in with the others."

Amanda smiled. "That's okay. When you are promoted to the technical team, they will resent you anyway."

Birkhoff laughed. No matter what Amanda said, he knew it would be awhile before he would be promoted, so that little factoid was of no use to him for now. Unless there was something they weren't telling him. Shaking the feeling off, Birkhoff replied, "I suppose that might make them jealous."

"Of course." Amanda smiled. "You safely back in Operations, while they are risking their lives in missions. From my experience it tends to bring out a little bit of resentment. So how was working with Simon been going?"

The eye rolls gave Amanda all the information she needed. "Interesting." Birkhoff replied.

"How so?" Amanda was genuinely interested to hear what the young man had to say about Simon.

"There is a lot of room for improvement." Birkhoff replied, "Some of the systems could be redesigned to work much more effectively."

"You've worked with more advanced systems?"

Birkhoff gave her a smirk. "I have designed way more advanced programs."

Amanda was glad to hear Birkhoff was gaining a little bit of his confidence back. He was a great hacker, that's why Division grabbed him, but so far he'd been a lot shyer than she had expected. She was glad that now he was becoming more comfortable, the confidence was coming back. "Do you have an example?" Amanda asked.

"Right now he appears to have techs running checks for all the information you need or to hack each place as you need. I had a program at home that I hack a place once, and I own them- I don't have to waste time redoing work. For information- it's pretty easy to set up a program to search for anything within certain parameters instead of having agents scan and watch for the information."

Amanda was impressed. Instead of just replacing Simon for his indiscretions, they would also be upgrading to this young man who might greatly improve their technology. She would have to talk to Percy about this. It was possible they could move up their timeline- this kid wouldn't need much training- maybe just a loyalty test. Her and Percy would definitely need to talk about this, Amanda grinned to herself.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Percy was working at his computer when a knock at the door caused him to look up from his work. Amanda came sauntering in, completely business like. "Is there something that I can help you with?" Percy asked her, returning to the work on his computer.

"Yes." Amanda walked towards Percy's desk and sat down in a chair before Percy's desk. Crossing her legs, she told Percy exactly what he wanted to know. "I think we can step up the timeline to get rid of Simon."

The statement grabbing his attention, Percy saved his work on the computer, and then turned back to Amanda. "Really?" he asked, "Why do you think that?"

"When I talked to Birkhoff, the new tech guy, he seems to think that Simon is not as good as we thought. Birkhoff told me that Simon's programs are very simplistic and that he has created more complex programs while hacking; programs that would save us time and effort. He gave some pretty convincing ideas and suggestions."

Letting her comments sink in, Percy thought for a few seconds before asking Amanda, "Do you think he is ready to be the head tech?"

Amanda smirked. "I don't know that he is going to be any kind of problem. He may be a non-conformist, but he is looking for the approval too. A large part of him is looking for approval- approval we could give him in that position and some that would be given to him just by giving him the job. I think a small loyalty test may be in order just to test things, but I think as long as we stroke his ego a little and give him chances to excel and gain approval, he won't be a problem of any kind."

"Okay." Percy knew Amanda's analyses were always very accurate so he could trust her assessment. "For the loyalty test, what do you have in mind?"

"I want to see what he does when Simon disappears. We won't kill Simon right away but I want to see how he reacts and what he does." Amanda explained her idea.

Percy nodded in agreement. "Good. I'll put it in motion. Roan will kidnap Simon tonight while he is out. Then we will put young Birkhoff in charged and see what happens."

Birkhoff found himself in the lunch room after a busy morning of physical training. Lana, who was pretty talented at the fighting side of things, had worked with him to help improve his limited fighting skills. She had gotten quite a few good licks in on him, but he also had learned a lt. Now they were getting a lunch break before going to tech class. Lana sat across from him eating. She gave Birkhoff a smile and said, "You really did a good job today."

Birkhoff blushed lightly. "Thanks." He replied, "I had a good teacher."

"But I expect you to help me when I need help with the tech stuff."

"Of course." Birkhoff smiled in reply. He was excited he was starting to finally fit in a little, at least with Lana.

"Birkhoff!" one of the guards called him, "Amanda would like to see you."

Sighing, only half-finished with his lunch, Birkhoff picked up his tray. "I'll see you later." He told Lana.

She waved goodbye to him as she continued eating her lunch. Getting rid of his garbage, he walked to Amanda's office, knocking on her door. "Come in." he heard Amanda call back.

Taking a deep breath, worried about what Amanda would want him for, he walked into her office. "You called for me."

Amanda was sitting in her chair, drinking tea. She looked up to see Birkhoff enter and greeted him, "Birkhoff, I wasn't expecting you so quickly, have a seat!" Amanda put the cup of tea down on the table.

Birkhoff sat down across from Amanda. "So what did you need?"

Liking how Birkhoff got right down to business, Amanda said, "Well, Birkhoff, we seemed to have a little bit of a problem. It seems that Simon has gone missing. His tracker is off line and he did not tell us where he was going. Now, until we find him, we are without a head tech."

"Really?" Birkhoff was surprised by her statement. He had assumed it would be pretty hard to disappear from Division the way they monitored everything and everyone. When he had been working with Simon, it did not seem like Simon would be the kind to disappear either. He started to wonder why he was here, why they were telling him. Surely there were a hundred people in place for something like this.

"We are a little worried that he may have been abducted." Amanda answered some of his questions. "In the meanwhile, since you have been working so closely with Simon and you have so far proven to be quite a quick study and great student with advanced technical skills, we want you to take Simon's place until w can find him."

The first thought through his mind was that he must be dreaming. There was no way that in the span of a week the group has rescued him, started training him, and now were promoting him, albeit temporarily, to the head position. There had to be others between him and the head tech job, didn't there? "Wow." Birkhoff finally managed to reply. "I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to thank us," Amanda told him, "You earned it by your performance and skills. Just make sure you do a good job."

"Of course." Birkhoff replied in shock.

"Your first duty is going to be teaching. Simon was supposed to teach everyone about Bluetooth devices today. Do you think you can handle that?"

Birkhoff nodded. "It'll probably take a little bit to get use to everything and Simon's schedule and plans, but I will do the best I can."

"I trust you will." Amanda smiled again in reply. "The class is going to be starting, so the other recruits will be waiting. After the class come back to find me and we will talk a little more about your duties."

"Okay. Thanks." Birkhoff stood up to head to the computer lab.

"And Birkhoff," Amanda called after him, causing him to turn back to her at the door. "Don't tell the recruits that Simon is missing. Just tell them he had a mission and asked you to fill in.

Birkhoff nodded and left the room. As he walked to the computer lab, Birkhoff pondered the recent events. There had to be more to this than Simon disappearing. While it may play a part, there was more to it than just that. Birkhoff was by no means a dumb man, he could tell Amanda was playing some kind of game. He wasn't going to call her on it- he valued his life- but he wanted to keep track of what was going on.

His mind went to the class. He realized he had no experience teaching, and being new to Division, he was going to have about as much authority with the other recruits as a substitute teacher would have over an ordinary class. Then again, that's exactly what he was- a sub. The lack of social skills would probably make this prove more difficult, but Seymour Birkhoff still valued his life and was going to find some way to make it work. He would do whatever it took- the other recruits didn't respect him yet, but he was going to change that.

Walking into the computer lab, most of the other recruits were already waiting there. He made the decision right away to pull on his experience of being picked on to toughen his shell and stand up to the rest of the recruits. "Listen up." He practically shouted to get their attention. When he saw that most of the recruits were now looking his direction he continued, "It looks like Simon is out completing a mission, so they have asked me to help you with today's lesson."

The eye rolls and groans were exactly what Birkhoff had expected. "Do any of you know how to hack a Bluetooth device" he asked, pausing to see if anyone answered. The room was silent. "Didn't think so." He confidently replied, "That is why I am your teacher today. I know most of you have been here longer than me, but this is my area of expertise so I am qualified to teach you guys in this."

Slowly the other recruits began to give Birkhoff their attention. Birkhoff was surprised how well drawing from his cockiness as Shadow Walker had helped him in this situation. Making note of this to draw from later, Birkhoff decided to start the lesson. "Bluetooth devices use 128-bit link keys to encrypt communication. Crack the key and, ta-da, you have an instant bug from any cell phone in rang.

For the next hour Birkhoff worked on teaching the other recruits how to hack the Bluetooth devices. Luckily most of the recruits understood the procedure pretty well and could perform the technique rather easily. He did have to help Lana quite a bit,, but she seemed to start understanding things a little bit better. After he dismissed the class, the recruits quickly left, leaving him and Lana. "So this must be pretty exciting for you." Lana commented.

Birkhoff just shrugged. "It's a little scary actually."  
"Why?" Lana laughed, "You're a natural."

"I'm glad it looks that way." Birkhoff answered, adding, "But I'm thrilled for the opportunity yet it terrifies me."

"Why?" Lana looked concerned.

"I'm not much of a social person. A bit awkward." Birkhoff explained.

"You could have fooled me!" Lana elbowed his side gently.

"Really? Most people think I'm just weird."

Lana's eyebrows arched. "Really?" she teased, "They seem to like you, for me, they think I am strange."

"You're not." Birkhoff protested.

"See, that's how I feel about you! Give yourself a chance!" Lana teased him.

With a huge smile, Birkhoff replied, "Only if you do too."

Lana nodded and said, "Okay, you have a deal. Both of us should work on our social skills."

Birkhoff nodded back in agreement. He still could not figure out why the other recruits thought the two of them were such outsiders. He was used to it from high school, so he had never thought to question it. Either way, even being head tech temporarily he would have to make some adjustments to keep the other recruits in line when he was instructing them, since most of them viewed him as below them having been their longer. "Well," he started to excuse himself, "I need to get to Amanda. She's got to fill me in on all the other things I need to do for Simon."

"Catch ya later teach." Lana smiled as she headed out the door.

For the first time in a long time, Birkhoff walked to Amanda's office with a huge smile across his face.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Birkhoff rolled his chair to another monitor across the room. He punched a couple buttons to pull up a search to make sure it was still running correctly. When he was satisfied it was running fine, he minimized it, and then rolled back across to the other system. It had been busy as the temporary head tech. It had been a week since Simon had disappeared and Birkhoff had spent almost 24 hours a day working on the computer systems and hacking into new places so Division would have access if they needed it. Each day he taught a class, the recruits listening to him, but the lack of respect clear in their eyes. In Simon's office he had secured a supply of energy drinks and liquorish to keep him going as he spent his time redoing his systems.

On his main system, Birkhoff punched up the tracker search. Every day about this time he did a search for Simon's tracker. In the week he had been made the active head tech there had been no sign of Simon's tracker. He was not surprised when yet again nothing came up. With an eye roll, Birkhoff closed the search. It was completely foreign to him how Simon could just disappear with the way Division protected itself and kept track of all its assets. Part of him felt that something strange was going on but the rest of him knew instinctually not to question it- questioning it would not b goo for him.

Meanwhile Percy sat in his office, leaned back in his leather chair, watching the young recruit working in Simon's office. He had to admit he was pleasantly surprised by the young man's work ethic. In a week the young man had barely slept, living off the energy drinks they had provided him and his enthusiasm for making their programs better. It seemed that his goal was to get the systems up before he would rest. The loyalty question seemed quite clear also- the kind had not questioned a thing. As long as he had the equipment to do what was needed, he worked and asked no questions- exactly what Percy wanted.

He looked up as his door opened, Amanda slipping into the room. "You wanted me?" she asked with a smile as she sauntered in.

"Yes." Percy looked away from his computer and back at Amanda. "I wanted to see what you thought of Birkhoff's progress."

Amanda thought for a minute, and then replied, "I think he is doing well. He has taken the responsibility in stride. He's doing what he is supposed to and not asking questions. Even though the other recruits are not giving him any respect, he is managing it and getting them through their lessons."

Percy leaned forward, folding his hands in front of him on the desk. He was glad to hear that Amanda agreed with his assessment. "Do you think we should move forward with the plan?" he asked her.

"Well, I think that is your decision, but I would think it is a formality at this point."

"Great." Percy was glad to hear her agreement.

"Are you going to have Roan cancel Simon?"

Percy could tell by Amanda's tone of voice that she was excited for this to happen. She had taken Simon's betrayal almost as seriously as Percy had himself. "No." Percy sat back in his chair then stood up. "I want to talk to him first."

Nodding in understanding, Amanda stood to walk out with Percy. "I'll let you know when it's done and you can let Birkhoff know the good news."

"I'll look forward to it." She answered.

Walking down the hallway, Percy then took an elevator towards the fifth sublevel where he was in holding. He punched in his security code, then opened the door and walked in. The room was dark, only a few lights hung from the ceiling. I was chilly and damp- no heating in this room- no reason to waste it on prisoners. Roan stood in ready stance next to Simon. Simon was tied to the chair by both his wrists and ankles. He was gagged, but it was hard to see because Simon's head hung down, shaggy brown hair hanging down over his eyes. His face, arms and legs were bruised from the beatings Roan had been subjecting him to- his punishment.

So far no one had said a word to Simon, although Percy knew Simon was a smart man and could figure out why he was there and being punished. Either way, Percy knew he wanted to get in the first words. He gave Roan a hand signal and Roan stepped in front of Simon, giving him a hard slap. Simon looked up and locked eyes with Percy. "My, my Simon, quite a mess you've gotten yourself into." Percy started, Simon protesting by pulling at his restraints, but he couldn't move.

Percy reached over and aggressively pulled the gag from Simon's mouth. Simon looked up at Percy, contempt in his eyes, finally spitting out, "Screw you Percy."

A laugh was all he got in reply. "You think you can betray Division without us finding out? Obviously you aren't as smart as we thought you were."

"I don't know what you are talking about." Simon insisted, looking away from Percy.

With anger, Percy leaned down in Simon's face. His smile had quickly reversed to a taut frown. "Don't lie to me Simon. You've already done more than enough of that." Percy stood up and walked a few paces, then turned back around to face Simon. "We know all about you and Laura."

Instantly a look of panic crossed Simon's face. It was clear he had never calculated the possibility that Division would find out about his girlfriend and their plans. Percy knew Simon should have known better. It wasn't exactly a hidden fact that Division agents no longer had any secrets. The minute you joined Division you had not more secrets, Division knew everything about you and you owed everything to them. It was beyond Percy how such an intelligent hacker could be so dumb. All the more reason to kill him- and the unfortunate girl. "Did you get what I asked for?" Percy asked Roan.

Roan handed a ring over to Percy and Percy held it up in front of Simon's face. The despair on Simon's face made it clear that he knew exactly what the ring meant. As Percy had learned through Roan that nothing could make Laura, his girlfriend, take off the ring. By showing Simon the ring, it could only mean one thing- that Laura had been killed. "No." he whispered in shock.

"She went peacefully." Roan added to the insult.

"Screw you Percy!" Simon spat once again. "I've faithfully served you for years. I have one thing for myself and you end it!"

"Division is your life! We rescued you and gave you a second chance. You were nothing until we saved you. This is how you thank us? By plotting to leave? Tsk, tsk." Percy clicked his tongue for emphasis.

Simon wasn't listening. The minute he saw Laura's ring, he knew they had discovered his plot and he was as good as dead. He figured at least he would go out on top. "Is that why you brought the wiz kid in here?" Simon shouted, "So I could train my replacement before you kill me?"

With a shake of his head, Percy replied, "Your betrayal is what is disturbing. Yes, I had Amanda find Birkhoff to replace you, but only after we discovered the betrayal. Sure we had you train him- you're the only one that could! We wouldn't have had to do it if you hadn't decided to leave, to betray us. Your actions caused the situation."

Snorting in contempt, Simon replied, "You found him? I put the kid there for you!"

Back in Simon's office, Birkhoff was still working on the programs for Division. One of the things that he had quickly found out from Simon was the process of finding recruits since it was the head tech's job. He had pulled up the program to see if there were any new prisoners fit the Division criteria. Pulling up the program, he glanced through some of the files from before his time at Division to see previous recruits as a case study of what he would need to do.

He quickly discovered that prisoners were entered into the prison system, and then Division searched that database for the kind of crimes that would fit their needs- murder, fraud, those kinds of things. From there, they would reach the list that they had and review all of the options to see who fit the next criteria- a small group of people or no group if the recruit was really good, that would ask questions if the person disappeared. Lastly they would determine if their attitude would allow them to work with Division and their goals, or if they would be too confrontational to listen to their training or that would try to escape the first chance that they got. Each stage was closely documented so Birkhoff had lots of examples to look at.

When he came across his file, Birkhoff smirked, and opened it up. He wanted to see how he had matched up. The first level was very obvious- Division wanted him for his hacking skills. He found one thing strange in his file- the notes had been added by Amanda instead of Simon- his file was the only one where the notes weren't done by Simon. He brushed it off, maybe because Simon was head tech someone else drafted the tech experts, and went on to the next part of his file. The notes said that Birkhoff had no family, few friends, which made him a good candidate. The last category was easy, Amanda had determined that Birkhoff would be a reasonable choice to bring into Division; they didn't predict or foresee him trying to leave. With a smirk he went to close the file, he noticed a note that Simon had attached to the file. Opening it up, Birkhoff could not believe what he had read.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

"What do you mean?" Percy glared at the tech, not wanting to hear about anymore lies.

"I put him there. I was going to make sure you were covered when I left." Simon looked up at Percy.

"How thoughtful." Percy sneered in reply.

"The kid didn't make a mistake- I went in after him and made the mistake so he would get caught. Since there was no one out there- which apparently you knew." Simon answered.

Birkhoff was in shock from what he had read. He was upset over a mistake that he hadn't actually made. This man that he had been trusting to train him was the sole reason he was in Division rather than at home being Shadow Walker.

The minute he read this, it reconfirmed his guess that Simon's disappearance may have been a set up. Sure it was only a theory that Simon was putting him there so he could leave, but the evidence only pointed to that being what had disappeared.

"Doesn't matter now." Simon laughed, "He's stuck in Division now."

"Now that wasn't very nice. Making the kid take your place." Percy took Simon to task.

"I was only thinking of Division." Simon replied.

Percy leaned down in Simon's face. "Were you only thinking of Division when you decided to leave?"

Standing back up, Percy hand-signaled Roan. Almost immediately Roan slit Simon's neck with his knife. "I'm going to go let Amanda know to tell the kid the space is his."

The knock on the door startled Birkhoff, who jumped in his seat. "Yeah!" he called.

Clicking heels instantly alerted Birkhoff to Amanda's presence before he ever turned around. "Hey Birkhoff." Amanda greeted him.

Turning around in his computer chair, Birkhoff put a fake-smile on his face and greeted her. "Hi Amanda. What can I do for you?"

Amanda greeted him back. "Well, I have some good news and some bad news for you."

Arching his eyebrows, Birkhoff was not exactly sure what might be coming. "What is it?"

"Unfortunately," Amanda walked across the room, pacing. "We just found Simon. His neck was slit."

Even though he was mad at Simon, he had to choke down the bile that raised in his throat. "What?" he managed to ask.

"Simon is dead." Amanda said it point blank this time. "The good news is that it means you are now permanently our head tech."

Birkhoff took a deep breath. He wasn't really sure that he wanted the job, but he also knew he didn't really have the option either. "I guess that's good news." Birkhoff replied. "Except for Simon."

"It was rather, unfortunate." Amanda replied. "But there's nothing we can do about it besides move on."

Still suspicious, Birkhoff wanted to know what had killed Simon- even though he thought it might be Division that had done it. "Do you know who did it? Might they target us?"

Amanda wasn't shaken. "Simon was out on a mission about a month ago and from recent analysis, it looks like they found out who he was. The first time he went to his apartment, they grabbed him."

Birkhoff wasn't sure if he bought it, but with their line of business it did make sense. Either way, he couldn't let Amanda know his suspicions. "So now what?" Birkhoff asked.

"Well," Amanda smiled again, "You can get settled." She pulled something from her pocket and handed it to him. "Here is a credit card. Once we get you set up to leave Division you will be able to use the card to decorate this room and your apartment, unless it's over $20,000, then Operations has to approve it."

"My apartment?" Birkhoff asked, confused.

"Yes." She laughed. "Whenever a recruit becomes an agent, they get their own apartment and cover life. You, as head tech, will technically be an agent, so you will get all the perks. There are just a few things we will have to take care of first- like putting in an agent tracker, but then you will have your own apartment."

That was the best news that Birkhoff had heard since coming to Division "Awesome." Birkhoff finally had something to smile about.

"Here is your information for your first mission as head tech and your cover package." Amanda handed him a couple of folders. In the mission one, there was a picture of a military officer and information about him. Glancing at the files, he asked, "Who is this?"

"We have him earmarked to be our newest recruit. You just need to arrange Percy's travel and make sure that the officials don't move him until Percy gets there."

Birkhoff nodded. "Okay." He sat down at the computer to start to work.

The eager young blond came quickly into the room, locking eyes with Percy and Roan. "You called for me?" he greeted them.

"Owen." Percy greeted him. "My favorite cleaner. We have a little bit of a mess for you to clean here."

Surveying the scene quickly, Owen replied, "No problem."

Percy smiled. Owen had quickly raised through the ranks of Division ever since Amanda had brought him to them. He never asked questions and he did what he was told, so that made him okay in his book. Turning to Owen, he replied, "When you are finished here, come to my office. We're going to talk about your promotion."

Nodding, Owen put the jug of acid down to get ready. "Thanks." He replied.

Blinking his eyes open, Birkhoff realized that he was in medical. It was the day after he had been told he was head tech and he was having his agent tracker placed in his hip. The skin of his hip was a little sore, but nothing too terrible. "Glad to see you're awake." Amanda's voice had not exactly been what he wanted to wake up to.

"Now what?" Birkhoff carefully sat up, protecting his hip.

"Well, now I take you out to your apartment." Amanda replied.

Birkhoff grabbed his laptop, swinging his legs off the side of the medical chair. HE followed Amanda back to a garage area where several nice cars were parked. She lead him over to a nice sporty red car and unlocking the doors so they could climb in. "Nice car." He commented as he climbed in.

Amanda just laughed. "It's not mine. It's yours."

It was a bit of a drive from the farm fields in the middle of nowhere to the city where Birkhoff's apartment would be. After what seemed like forever to Birkhoff, Amanda pulled over and parked in front of a nice apartment building. As they got out to the car, Amanda told him, "Here are your keys. You must keep your phone on you," she handed him a phone, "At all times, making sure it is charged and on so we can call you back at any time. You will come in every day unless you are told otherwise along with any emergency calls we place to you."

'In other words, don't plan to see your apartment much.' Birkhoff thought to himself.

The apartment was on the top floor- the 10th floor of this building. Amanda stopped at the door marked 512B and waited for Birkhoff to try out his new keys. Unlocking the door, Birkhoff headed in to his new apartment. For a brand new tech he was shocked by how large his apartment was. They had walked into a large foyer that connected at the left to a giant kitchen and dining area and to the front attaching to a two-story living room. A staircase, a spiral one like that, lead to the upstairs where Birkhoff could see at least two bedrooms. The whole place was decorated in metal and dark wood with minimal lighting. It was perfect for the tech God. Amanda watched Birkhoff scan the rooms in amazement, then replied, "You like it, I take it?"

Birkhoff just nodded. "It's very nice."

"Great." Amanda smiled, "Just keep in mind we have never given a new recruit an apartment so soon. We hope you will show us that it is not a bad decision."

"I won't let you down." Birkhoff replied as he continued to survey his amazing apartment. As unsure as he was about this organization, he was impressed by the chance they were taking on him by giving him the head tech job and the apartment and they had gained at least a little bit of his trust.

"You can stay here until you have class tomorrow." Amanda told him. "Just make sure you complete your task with the new recruit."

Holding up his laptop bag, he replied, "I brought my work with me."

"You're learning quickly Birkhoff." Amanda praised him. "I'm going to head back to Division. We'll see you in the morning- by then all of Simon's things will be out of your office. "Good night Birkhoff."

With that Amanda had left and Birkhoff was alone. The introduction of his apartment had been a whirlwind like the rest of his experience with Division. It had been approximately two weeks since he had been arrested and his life had been turned upside down. With this thought, Birkhoff decided to head upstairs to check out the rest of his apartment. Upstairs there was an office, already outfitted with a scaled down version of his Division office equipment. The master was the most stunning part of the apartment. The room was huge, painted a dark blue. There was a door to an outside deck and across from his bed the wall was slanted with a huge set of windows opening it and the ceiling above his California king bed to the clear night sky.

Lying down on the bed, Birkhoff gazed at the night sky, wondering what he had done to deserve to be there. Sure, Simon had gotten him caught by the FBI, but that didn't mean he was completely innocent. He had definitely not done anything to add productively to society. Now he was determined to make it up by working hard for Division and the government to prove to himself he could be something.

Heading over to his closet, Birkhoff was surprised to find he had already been outfitted with a ton of clothes. For now he pulled on a white undershirt and pulled off his pants. After a little bit of work, he fell asleep under the star-filled sky.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The next morning was like a Twilight Zone. He was in his own apartment but Division owned him. He could get up when he wanted, do what he wanted, but he still had to report back to them when they wanted. After his breakfast and shower Birkhoff found himself driving back to Division. He wondered if he would be doing it the rest of his life or if they would let him retire at some point.

When Birkhoff got to Division, he pulled around to the garage and parked his new car. Getting out of his car, it took Birkhoff a little while to remember how to get from the garage to his office. After a few wrong turns, Birkhoff finally opened the door to his office. As the door opened, he had to brace himself to keep from falling over. While he had been at his new apartment, they had removed all of Simon's things. They had replaced all the furniture with things more suited to Birkhoff's style. "Awesome." He commented, putting his laptop bag down on the floor.

He checked all of his monitors to make sure there were no problems. Luckily nothing had popped up overnight, so Birkhoff moved on to his messages. Not too surprisingly there was a message from Amanda. Clicking on it, he cracked his knuckles as it loaded and opened. He scanned it quickly:

Birkhoff-

Lana is falling behind in computer skills. In an

attempt to prevent her cancelation due to complete  
success in all other areas we would like you to tutor

her for an hour after class in your office each day  
until further notice. Please start today.

-Amanda

Birkhoff rolled his eyes. He didn't want to deal with personal training another recruit. Even if he and Lana had previously pleasant interactions, it would be completely different to personally tutor someone. Teaching wasn't exactly his favorite task, and now he would have to spend more time doing it. Knowing he didn't have a choice, Birkhoff closed the messages. He wondered if Lana knew about the arrangement, but figured it didn't really matter. Walking across his office, he found a hacking program that he was going to have the recruits practice their hacking skills on. It had only taken a few hours for him to create the program which made the hacking look and feel like a video game, easier for the recruits.

After he had gotten everything together he headed towards the computer lab. As he walked down the hall he ran into Amanda. "Birkhoff!" she greeted him. "Nice to see you back."

Birkhoff was slightly surprised at the accusation that he wouldn't return. "I'm heading to the computer lab now."

"Great." Amanda smiled. "Did you get my message?"

Birkhoff nodded. "About Lana?" he questioned back.

"Yes." Amanda replied. "I think she is a great agent but she's just falling behind in the one area. I want to see if a little extra help in that area will turn her around."

"Sure." Birkhoff replied, "Anything specific?"

Amanda shook her head in reply. "Everything with computers. It's just an overall area that needs an improvement."

"Okay." Birkhoff replied, "Did you tell her about this?"

Amanda shook her head again. "No. I figured you could let her know after class."

Birkhoff figured it would be Amanda's game to make him give her the bad news. "Okay I will have to let her know." Birkhoff replied.

"Have fun in class." Amanda waved as she continued down the hall.

When Birkhoff got to the computer lab, the recruits had not arrived. It was five to ten, so he spent the time getting the software into place for their activity. As he heard the recruits' voices in the hall, his heart began to pound. Today was completely different- Birkhoff wasn't just the temporary head tech- he was now the head tech and he was sure the other recruits weren't quite going to be impressed. The door opened and a bunch of recruits finally came in. "Hey Birkhoff, still playing head tech?" John, one of the recruits came into the room.

"Actually," Birkhoff replied, "today I am officially Head tech."

The recruits just looked at Birkhoff in disbelief. "What about Simon" Davy, another recruit questioned.

"Unfortunately, Simon was murdered by some of his enemies." Birkhoff replied.

"So now you're head tech?" John questioned. "You've been here for what, two weeks? How is that fair?"

"What, are you banging someone?" Davy taunted.

"Enough!" Birkhoff shouted in reply, startling the recruits. "Sit down! I'm head tech because I am far, far more intelligent when it comes to computers. I am far more qualified to do this."

All the recruits sat at their stations, surprised at Birkhoff's sudden outburst. Once everyone was set up, Birkhoff started introducing the lesson. The recruits were talking amongst themselves, definitely about Birkhoff but he tried to ignore it. Instead he decided to crack the whip any time they did something wrong. "C'mon guys!" Birkhoff shouted, "This is not a difficult case!"

"Maybe if you were a better teacher!" John shouted in reply.

"It's hard to teach idiots." Birkhoff replied. "Maybe you guys ought to focus a bit more on the hacking and a bit less on me."

Birkhoff saw Lana smile a little at him standing up to the other recruits and it made him feel a little better. As the recruits continued working, Birkhoff watched their progress on his tablet. He realized quickly that Amanda was right when he looked at Lana's progress. She was way behind the other recruits even if they had not gotten every far."

After the most excruciating hour ever, he finally excused the recruits. As Lana was passing by, he stopped her, "Lana, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Lana stopped at the desk where Birkhoff was waiting. "Can I do something for you Birkhoff?" she asked.

"Yes." Birkhoff put his tablet down on the desk. "Amanda told me that you are struggling with your computer skills."

"Yeah." Lana embarrassedly blushed. "It's definitely a weak spot."

Birkhoff stood up, "Anyway, Amanda wanted me to tutor you to try to improve your skills. See if a little one-on-one helps out."

"It could help." Lana agreed, "When does this start?"

Signaling for Lana to follow him, he replied, "Now. An hour every day after computer lab."

"Great." She replied sarcastically.

It wasn't that Lana minded spending time with Birkhoff- he was a really nice guy and he knew a lot about computers. More so she was not going to enjoy having to spend an extra hour on computers- her weak subject. She watched as Birkhoff led her through a maze of halls to what she assumed was his office. They walked into the room and Birkhoff rolled a second wheeled chair over to the station where he had all his computer gear set up. "Have a seat." He told her, sitting down in the other seat. Once they were both seated, he asked, "So where do you want to start?"

Ana shrugged. "I honestly have no idea. Computers are so foreign to me."

"How?" Birkhoff found that hard to believe. "Computers are so prevalent these days."

Lana leaned back in the chair. "Well, my parents were technophobes." She explained, brushing her brunette hair with her fingers. "They never had anything. They even made the school put us in alternative classes when our classmates had computer or technology classes."

Birkhoff let out a low whistle. That was pretty surprising someone would go to those lengths these days. He had apparently sat there thinking for longer than he expected because Lana replied, "I know it's shocking, isn't it?"

"Yeah, a little." Birkhoff replied. "You seem to have recovered well."

Lana smiled. "Don't be too impressed. I've been at Division for two months. It took me that long just to figure out the computers."

"See, computers aren't that bad." Birkhoff replied as he turned his equipment on. "You can figure this out just like you figured out how to use a computer."

Lana smiled back to his grin. "Okay, okay." She replied.

"We'll start at the beginning." Birkhoff explained, "Tried this."

Birkhoff brought up a very simple hack. He watched as she tried it to see where she was getting lost. "So Lana, where are you from originally?" he asked her.

Lana clicked the mouse on the screen. _'So far so good.'_ Birkhoff thought. "I am from Las Vegas." She replied.

"Las Vegas." Birkhoff didn't think that Lana was near as flashy as he would expect someone from Las Vegas to be.

"Not quite what you expect someone from Las Vegas to be." Lana turned to him then added, "Don't worry, I get that a lot. I have a lot of skeletons in my closet."

"You're here, so I'd imagine at least one." Birkhoff laughed.

"I supposed that's right." She replied. "I wouldn't peg you the type to have a skeleton."

Grinning, Birkhoff replied, "Well, I am here."

"Let me guess," Lana laughed, "Something with hacking?"

"Very good." Birkhoff laughed again, "Although I don't know if they want me to tell you that. I guess it is pretty obvious."

"Well, you don't seem the killer type." Lana replied.

"Neither do you." He replied, "Wait," Birkhoff caught a mistake she made in her hack.

Putting his hand over hers, he moved the mouse on the screen to show her what she should be doing. "Oh!" Lana commented when he was halfway through. "I see. I was just overthinking."

The hour with Lana was going pretty quickly. With each task he had Lana practice, he found himself sitting closer to her. He found out that Lana, in the lack of technology she'd had in her life, she had a lot of time to study. For years she had read textbooks for fun. That had led her to be a very smart young woman. While Birkhoff was technology smart, Lana was book smart. Birkhoff was surprised how well they were getting along.

After Lana successfully completed a hack, she quickly turned to Birkhoff in excitement, surprising him and ended up with her face inches from Birkhoff's. Both of them were silent in surprise as they looked at each other.


End file.
